Posts Tagged ‘2015’

As Human Rights Day dawned on South Africa, over 40 youth delegates descended on Bush Radio to register to be part of the annual Media Kidocracy Konfrence hosted by the station from the 10th to the 12th December 2015.

Delegates have been drawn from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Italy, Northern Ireland, Austria, Germany and South Africa.

The theme for this expands and consolidates last years theme of democracy by: Celebrating Democracy, learning from the past and looking to the future.

As part of a growing need for youth participation in the decision-making process and policy formulation around children’s broadcasting, in 2000 Bush Radio initiated a conference. The Kidocracy (Kid-democracy) name was created for the event – to denote a form of society characterised by social equality and acceptance of young people with representation for and by young people.

The Media Kidocracy Konference aims to establish critical awareness and understanding among young people by exposing youth to information and experiences that will enable them to identify issues they feel are relevant, as well as explore their role in media and social issues. MKK also assists participants in devising strategies for addressing social issues by using the media as a tool to help resolve and address these issues.

Bush Radio trainee breakfast presenter Yuzriq Meyer took time after his morning show to join students in the #FeesMustFall protests – more than being moved by what he saw, it was what he felt that had a greater impact, here is his story:

So today i had a first hand experience of what the ‪#‎FeesMustFall‬ protests are like

Being a radio presenter and speaking on matters I have no idea about would prove to be beyond ignorant, so in attempts to better understand the situation, students and the protest I joined in the NON-VIOLENT protest.

First we congregated at CPUT Cape Town Campus and made our way to the city centre and then through to Waterfront to get to Granger bay Campus.

This journey was not a easy one, as police barricaded the entry through the city.Multiple shot gun shots were fired into the sky to scare the students,but to no avail.

The students grew more passionate to get their point across and continue their protest. 100s of shops in the city closed their doors in fear that the students might hurt them or loot their shops.

But these students were not violent,nor were they out to harm anyone. They came to sing struggle songs and knock on the doors of government to request answers and let the them know they are unhappy with the 6% increase

But what television does not show you from the 1000s and 1000s of students protesting, it could easily be only 20 students with clear anger issues or a vandalistic nature or just plain stupid that throw bricks or bottles or kick doors.

This is not even a quarter of the students that are just ignorant and haven’t a cooking clue what a non -violent protest is because they cannot internalise their anger.

And during times when a few seem to get angry or violent 100s of the other students shout at them and said “No this is a peaceful protest,don’t be stupid”

Anyways I walked with the students and if something was clear to me is that these young people were not going to back down until not only government but the world hears their cries for change.

They screamed in the streets “We are the Mandela kids, we are the new generation and we will fight for our rights- Fees Must Fall – Fees Must Fall”

The sheer passion of the students was out of this world.

I may not have been around in the apartheid era in freedom struggle as an active participator, but from my experience of today i may have a better understanding to what it was like to be in the atmosphere of passionate comrades and the feeling of camaraderie in the air.

But only this time every single race was present. Black White & Coloured.

And to all the people sitting at home complaining about violent protesters, my analogy would be imagine 5 kids at a school breaking the toilet door and the principal decides to keep the whole school to pay for a few people’s stupidity, so i urge you to join in so you can see what exactly happens and also understand that those few ignorant people part of the group are not in any way a reflection of these kids and what they stand for.

These kids are saying no to a 6% increase on varsity fees and down with corrupt government that does not answer it’s youth and leaders of tomorrow.

As part of our regular staff development sessions some of the Bush Radio trainees got to be tourists in their own city by hopping on the City Sightseeing South Africa open-top bus tour. The guys even did a short broadcast from the bus.

We are looking for a dynamic, driven, hardworking and enthusiastic individual with a flair for, and the basic understanding of the running of a newsroom who is willing to be mentored to help develop Bush Radio’s newsroom: in terms of policy, content, delivery (reading) editing and networking.

In return Bush Radio will offer the candidate access to local and international training as it becomes available, as well as mentoring by senior Bush Radio management in order for the candidate to develop into a fully fledge radio news editor.

Duties will include: Ensuring that Bush Radio adhere’s to its newsroom polices, that content is developed to meet these requirements, ensure that all content published by the newsroom (ie bulletins, online articles, current affairs, features) are of a high and constantly improving quality.

No formal journalism or media qualification is a requirement but would aid application.

An excellent command of English and a good general knowledge is a requirement as well as the command of one other language Bush Radio broadcasts in (Afrikaans or Xhosa)

Experience in working in a newsroom would be an asset.

This is a full time contract position (1 year contract after 6 months’ probation)

Leading up to Bush Radio quietly celebrating its 20th “legal” on air birthday on the 9th August 2015, Mixcloud was sifting through 24 categories and over 5000 nominations to draft a shortlist for the 2015 annual Mixcloud Online Radio Awards in association with the International Radio Festival.

The Wrong Rock Show was 1 of 5 programmes shortlisted by Mixcloud in the Alternative/Rock Show category.

A big congratulations to Botha, Greg and team!

* Mixcloud– is a online music streaming service for the listening and distribution of radio shows, DJ mixes and podcasts. Its notable users include Wired, Harvard Business School, TED Talks, and Barack Obama.

Tutankhamun – His Tomb and the Treasures has meticulously reconstructed the famous tomb and the golden artifacts found by Howard Carter in November 1922, with the help of Cairo craftspeople who built more than a thousand exact replicas over five years.

AllAfrica’sJuanita Williams and Bush Radio’sShadreck Setti interviewed Dr Tarek El Awady, described as a “walking encyclopaedia” on ancient Egypt, about one of the most famous pharaohs, and seeing the “wonderful things” Carter spoke of, at the exhibition at Grandwest in Cape Town.